I agree; I am willing to pay more for American made. Plus with more jobs, Americans would have more disposable income.
Thanks for supporting my views on China. This is something we in the West need to think very strongly about.
Seafood, wine, fruit and dairy exports under threat on top of barley and meat. Those Chinese commies have raised the stakes a couple of notches in their bully boy tactics against my country. China and its insidious regime knows full well Australia ..like most other countries.. are reeling from the economic affects of this virus. Yet they want to bring us to our knees just to show how powerful they are. The West must take a stand now and come to the aid of a loyal ally.
Australia intends taking China to the World Trade Organisation over its recent treatment of our trade partnership. I dont know much about this group but if it is anything like the 'toothless tigers'..United Nations and World Health Organization, Australia can not expect anything concrete to come from our complaint. Already the vultures are circling due to the bully boy's excessive barley tariffs with France looking to fill Australia's shortfall. This is one hell of a kick in the teeth for Australia.. and by a western ally. Seems with every nation hurting economically from this damned virus that loyalty is going out the door.
Patsy the Commie bully is now threatening Australia's thermal coal exports and may cut into the 60% of world iron ore that we sell to them annually. These are our two major resource materials export earners. There are now rumblings from some of our influential people for Australia to process our own iron ore for steel production instead of having China process it. Australia's iron ore is reputed to be the finest grade on the planet and China knows this. Starve them of it and sell only to our allies for their steel.
Patsy I wanna know why the commie bully continues threatening Australia's exports (may well be the UK next) when it too has backed down and is now seeking an inquiry into the origins of this virus. The oriental mentality.. specially Chinese..is to never 'lose face' over a situation. Well isn't this losing face big time? And it is all their own doing. By accepting an inquiry surely it now sees that Australia was correct in calling for one and has to step away from its belligerent attitude towards Australia. As I see it we in the West now hold the ace card. What will the Trump administration's next move be. Mike Pompeo has already berated China over its treatment of my country.
I know the people here want action against China - just hope the Government listen and take note Its a rotten time full of distractions - we can only hope and pray that sense prevails I wish you all well in your endeavours Craig
I'm afraid that will remain wishful thinking, Craig. The Chinese are doing the same as any major player did in the past. What was right for them should be right for the Chinese. As far as Europe and the European consumers are concerned, there's little hope that neither consumption behavior nor the decisions taken by European governments or big companies are going to change. Every man for himself. Examples? European companies are too far behind technologically which makes them dependent on Chinese technology like 5G , pharmaceuticals; smartphones, and on mineral deposits; car manufacturers need the Chinese market to keep their production viable; EU or not, economically less strong countries like Greece and others rely on Chinese investments in projects for which they allegedly don't get enough EU funding; customers arrive at the cheapest discount stores in a large SUV, keep buying cheap, expect food to be cheap so as to have money left for the latest smartphone made in China. This list is endless.
Wishful thinking perhaps but if the Free World allows China to ride ruffshod over the rest of the world bringing with it its authoritarian ideology. Then I fear for the future. (read about China's ONE BELT ONE ROAD INITIATIVE) The West made China into a big player. A big big error. Is it now too late to bring it down? You dont think they can do it Thomas. Led by America under Donald Trump I believe they can and must. After all the US is another big player. And Trump does not like losing.
Instead of buying your next Smart Phone from China make it a Japanese or South Korean or Scandavian made one. China does not dominate 5G technology. South Korea is ahead of it with 5G deployment. The country has rolled out 5G to 85 cities as of Jan. 2020. Government officials estimate 90% of Korea's mobile users will be on a 5G network by 2026. The key to South Korea's success seems to stem from the collaboration of three major carriers..SK Telecom, LG Uplus, and KT Corp. In the United States. AT&T and Verizon already have fledgling 5G networks along with T-Mobile and Sprint. In addition there are Scandinavian's Nokia and Ericsson. Japan and South Korea are also well advanced in EV research and technology as are the US and several European counties. By 2030, South Korea’s goal is for EVs to make up one third of all cars on its roads. The US plans to have 800K of EVs annually on its roads by 2030. Australia, Canada, US and Brazil have large mineral deposits.. fossil fuel and renewables (green energy). Australia is well advanced in R&D technology on hydrogen as a new cleaner energy fuel for the future. The Free World has to change its mindset towards China. Recognize it for what it is..a totalitarian state that offers its citizens very few freedoms and only those that its Politburo endorses. One that wants to dominate the poorer, more vulnerable Free World nations by stealth (One Belt One Road )
Many years ago, through the efforts of both major political parties, the United States made a concerted effort to outsource our manufacturing to China. It was a political decision, but a global one rather than a Republican-Democrat agenda, and much of this is still in place despite the pro-American rhetoric that we might hear during times of crisis. Our government has subsidized China's industrialization in more ways than we can imagine. Shipping a product from China to a market in the United States was cheaper than shipping the same product from one part of the United States to another, courtesy of the US taxpayer. This is why it was cheaper to ship meat and poultry produced in the United States to China for processing, then shipping it back to the US markets than to process it here, and not only were we subsidizing China's overhead, but we were depriving US citizens of these jobs. As if that weren't enough, our lawmakers voted not to even let us know where the food we eat is grown or processed, specifically in the case of China. So, if US citizens were determined not to buy food that was grown or processed in China, the label would not be required to contain that information.
Same thing happens over here which I only discovered recently there's a heavy price to pay for getting things done on the cheap
I don't know of any meat that is shipped to China for processing, then back to the USA markets. It has been erroneously reported that Smithfield does this, when actually they ship whole hog carcasses to China for CHINESE consumption. Smithfield products for USA markets are processed in the USA. I read this on the Smithfield website (and confirmed on other websites) because I was curious about how having meat shipped overseas for processing could possibly be cost-effective. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...nese-firm-sells-us-processed-meat/2987004001/ I hate that many food products try to fool a consumer by using a "packaged in USA" or "distributed by Blah,Blah" designation instead of country of origin. We can thank Obama and the previous administration for doing away with the COOL labels on meat.
I'm sure you don't. That was the point that I was making. I don't know if it's still going on because food shipped from China for US consumption does not have to be labeled as such. My statement was in the past tense. But unless the laws are changed to require labeling, we won't know that it isn't still going on. I am hoping that the Trump Administration stopped it, but an attempt to require labeling such foods was defeated, so I am not confident that it will not resume under the next administration. I didn't mention Smithfield Farms, and that may be another issue, but we won't know that. China bought the company, and we aren't supposed to worry our little heads about what we put into our mouths. The discussion was China's increasing power over the world economy, and my mention of China's role in processing food meant for US consumption came out in 2014 when the USDA changed its rules to permit it, and attempts to require such labeling have been defeated, so it's not unreasonable to suspect that it still goes on. EcoWatch CNS News New York Times